Cross Continent Superlatives

I've actually been off and on working on this for months, only never to finish. I figured that being snowed in is a good enough reason to complete my unfinished business.

These are the highlights and best of from my road trip to Alaska and back in July and August of 2009:

Best City:Madison, WI- University of Wisconsin, bike friendly, nice weather, scenic. Very nice people, good food, tasty beer. What's not to like?


Honorable Mention: Calgary, Saskatoon, Edmonton (below)


Best Town: Jasper, Alberta- near perfect town nestled in the splendor of the Canadian Rockies. Every turn is a postcard. You have glorious peaks, glaciers, sparkling rivers and picturesque lakes. Moose, bear, marmot, dall sheep and elk. Can't go wrong with Jasper, unless you don't like pretty stuff in nature.


Honorable Mention- Mineral Point, Wisconsin; Sitka, Alaska (below); Haines, Alaska


Best Campground (Public owned):Wasagaming - located in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. Run by Parks Canada, it is large, but it has clean facilities, close to the town of Wasagaming and pretty Clear Lake.

Honorable Mention-
Gordon Howe Campground, Saskatoon is run by the city of Saskatoon and simple and nice. I stayed in overflow and was the nicest overflow camping that I have ever been pushed to. Plus, how can you not like a placed named after a Gordie Howe?

Juniper Campground, Teddy Roosevelt National Park (North Unit). Isolated, quiet on the banks of the Missouri River with the bison.

Best Campground (Private owned):Robert Service- close to Whitehorse, it is clean, efficient and full of fun people. I stayed there twice. Most vagabonds that venture through Yukon end up at Robert Service sometime.

Honorable Mention- Garden City Campground, Skagway- Okay, it really wasn't that nice, but the owner was accomodating and pleasant, the showers hot. Plus, Emily made some friends the morning we started riding who fed us donuts and coffee.

Favorite Hostel: HI Edmonton- Great location, awesome staff, nice people staying there.

Honorable Mention- Maligne Canyon Wilderness Hostel, Jasper - No running water or electricity. And where else would you get awaken by the proprietor shouting, "There's a bear outside, don't panic if you hear a lot of noise!" Then he goes outside and starts banging pots together.

Favorite Quote:
"Everything sounds better with 'Photograph' ". -Jim Rome.
I was listening to "Rome is Burning" on an Edmonton sports radio station and Rome was talking about how if you put Def Leppard's "Photograph" in the background, everything instantly sounds better. He proceded to do that with some of the show's worst call ins. It worked. See for yourself, play something terrible and put this in the back:



Honorble Mention:
"North Carolina! Did you get lost?" - Random motorcyclists looking at my tag at a gas station in the middle of nowhere on the Alaska Highway.
"You didn't come all this way to sit at a redlight" - Emily's friend, Glenn (below, with Emma), as he sped through a red light in Juneau. Glenn picked us up on our ferry layover to take us to lunch and for a quick tour of Alaska's capital city.


Best Beer: Alaskan Amber - Juneau's best export. I snuck two cases home. The Smoked Porter is delicious.

Honorable Mention:
6060 Stout by Jasper Brewing Company. Tasty, especially after a day of hiking and golf. Plus, the bartender kept offering free drinks to us sitting at the bar.
Amber Ale at Brewery Creek in Mineral Point, WI. They brew good drinks but also serves up good food there too.

Favorite Road:Haines Highway from Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines Alaska. It was the most scenic. You had Kluane National Park as your view. It wasn't bad.


Honorable Mention:
Stewart Highway from Stewart, BC to Yukon. Lonely and Isolated, which I deem perfect.

Canada HWY 16: one of the trans-Canada Highways. Between Winnipeg and Edmonton, it's tiny towns and seemingly never ending canola fields. Beyond the Rockies, it is isolated ranches and large expanses of space between scenic little towns.

Best Meal: Frosty Freeze, Haines Junction- I understand that leather would taste good after 101 miles on a bike, but the fries and shakes and Frosty Freeze were divine.

Honorable Mention:
33 Mile Restaurant, 33 miles out of Haines, Alaska- not really the best food, but a great meal because of circumstances (cold, wet, tired), company (Emma and Aaron) and timing.

Innisfree Cafe, Innisfree, Alberta- tried pyrogy for the first time and had great conversation with the owner, Grant (below).


Favorite Cafe: Sticky Buns- near Carcross, Yukon. This alone is almost reason enough to come to Yukon.


Honorable Mention: Highliner Coffee, Sitka. Good coffee, the staff was nice and they had wireless for me.

Favorite Hike: Skyline Trail, Jasper National Park - 44 km (about 27 miles), most of it above treeline. Experience alpine meadows, glacier fed lakes and spectacular views of the Canadian Rockies. Hang out with marmot and goats. Get your ass kicked climbing up to the "Notch" (below).


Honorable Mention:
Verstovia, Sitka- lots of climbing to gorgeous views of Baranof Island and Mt. Edgecumbe. Plus, I had nice company on the walk.


Favorite Structure: Trestle at Lethbridge, Alberta:


Honorable Mention:
High Bridge, Edmonton


Spillway and Dam, Fort Peck Lake, Montana


Provenchar Pedestrian Bridge, Winnipeg


Favorite Church: Christ Church, Whitehorse- nice sermon and the priest remembered my name after the service.

Honorable Mention- City Church, Edmonton

Things I miss: CBC- like Canadian NPR, the canola fields of central Canada, the freedom of being on the road.

Would I drive 4,000 miles to Alaska/Yukon through desolate roads and isolated communities again: In a heartbeat.

34 in a 25

I went to court today. Was given a reduction on a speeding ticket that I picked up on November 11. Went from 43 to 34. I've been driving since 1994. Here are my violations:

1) I guess it was about 1999, busted for speeding in Burlington on the way to church. Ticket reduced.

2) 2003, pulled over going 73 in a 55 on Business 40 in Winston Salem while on my way to Eden for a preseason wrestling tournament. Got a prayer for judgement.

3) 2006, busted for speeding on Blythe St, near my house. 41 in a 25. I was on my way to church. Went to driving school.

4) This was my most recent speeding ticket. I was on my way from church.

Based on the above, the logical conclusion would be to no longer go to church. Apparently, I missed the part of the gospel where it says Jesus gives speeding tickets every three years if you take your cross and follow.

Are Republicans Relevant?

or just endangered? Below is a recent cover of Time Magazine.

Me? I'm registered independent. I consider myself moderate. I lean left on some issues and right on others. I see lots of faults with both major political parties, but I also see lots of good things. From a non-partisan perspective, here are some things I see that are making the Republicans less and less relevant and more endangered:

1) Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney.
When these are the leading spokespersons for your party, you are in trouble. The base loves them, but if your goal is to be more inclusive and recruit more votes, this is bad. The leadership of the party has done nothing to draw new voters. I would argue that they don't want to draw new voters. The above do nothing but alienate moderate and left voters. Fear mongering panders to the base and excludes the peripheral voters.

2) Speaking of new voters, unless the message is changed, the Republican party is dead. The demographics of the country are changing. Hispanic voters will be crucial in all future elections. Not illegally registered voters as some within the party will claim, but voters who were born in the United States and have a stake in the future of this nation. Of their nation. Census data shows that the population of Hispanics in America is growing more from births within the borders than from immigration from outside the borders. Without a new message to attract these voters, formerly safe red states such as Texas, South Carolina and other midwest and southern states will be blue for a long time.

3) The Republican party has a perception of negativity. They are not FOR anything. They are anti-government, anti-immigration, anti-health care, anti-stimulus, anti-gun control anti-regulation and so forth. It's subtle, but it affects people's perceptions. The party has to repackage those views, some of which are good (I like small government) into a way that does not seem so negative, hateful and divisive.

4) The Republican party has a perception of hypocrisy. When you campaign as the morally superior party with the backing of evangelical Christians and you have so many leaders fall at moral levels, it sure hurts your credibility. From Larry Craig in the men's room to Ted Haggard's escapades and now Nevada Senator John Ensign and SC Governor Mark Sanford, the Republicans have been hit over and over by moral shortcomings. Not that anyone is perfect, but to outsiders, the "holier than thou" message that the party and its supporters perpetuate only adds to the hypocrisy.

5) Change for the sake of change is not always good. But failure to change when it's necessary is even worse. The Republican party is dominated by conservatives that do not want to see change. History is about change. This is a very different world now than when I was growing up. The party could be a part of it and guide the change or they can continue to resist it and reluctantly and spitefully watch as the rest of the nation and world changes.

If I were to choose a party, I would register Democrat. Some of it would be because I agree with more issues, but some would be because I don't want to be Republican. Speaking as a Christian, I see the Republican party in the same way that a lot of people see the Church: hypocritical, hateful and exclusive.

I walk the streets of Asheville and Hendersonville and the halls of the school I work in and I meet lots of people who would like to be part of a church but won't visit because they feel they are going to be judged. Or because they see the Church as hypocritical. There are a lot of people out there who have been very hurt by the Church. They cannot understand why in a place where there supposed to be much love and forgiveness that there is so much condemnation and judgment.

Fortunately, there are churches that do get it right. I hope those churches will stand out.

There are Republicans that do get it right. If they do not stand out, then the party will go the way of the dodo.